100 Tales to Tell
by egariMdnalsI
Summary: This is my take on the Tokka 100. Basically. Ch.2 is up.
1. Chapter 1 Rival (33)

When people think of my worst rival, they automatically think, "Suki." Well... that's not true. Sure, her peppiness and happy-fun view on life gets annoying, and her sense of humor is a bit... umm... not humorous, but really, she's an alright kinda gal. We actually have fun when it's just the girls. What really gets me is when we're all together. The whole Gaang, I mean. It's when she's with HIM that I REALLY start getting annoyed. When they get all cuddley and kissy, I almost can't stand being in the same room as them.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I should just get over it and get on with my life... The thing is, I've tried that. I've tried really hard. But I can't get over it.

Every time they lean in for a "secret" kiss, or to whisper in each other's ears, I feel it. I feel every vibration, every emotion.

I feel it.

And it hurts.

Badly.

So in reality, I guess my worst rival... my number one enemy is me. Myself. I. Why am I blaming myself? Why? Well... because... I don't know. Just because.

Because I didn't tell him when I had the chance... Because every time the perfect opportunity presented itself, I chickened out. Because beneath my tough, hard as rock, badass exterior, I've cracked. I've crumbled. I'm completely broken. I can't tell him how I feel... How I've always felt about him.

He's in love, but not with me.

So I'll just burry my emotions like I always have. I'll go on being his friend (BEST friend. At least I can claim that title). I'll be there when... if he ever needs me. I'll go on secretly hating my inner rival...

My bitter enemy...

Myself...

* * *

**Hey, Friday Haze here! Just thought I'd have a go at the Tokka 100, so... Yeah! Please tell me what you think n' stuff!**


	2. Chapter 2 Facade (61)

The Bounty Hunter gritted his teeth, blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, as he studied the confusing splatter of hoof-prints before him. They were smart, he concluded. He would have to spend hours unraveling the mess. They would be halfway to the border by the time he was done.

He took a piece of paper from his pocket and re-read the bold printed words:

**WANTED  
****_DEAD_ or _ALIVE  
_THE BLIND BANDIT  
**_NOTORIOUS_ ROBBER**  
****REWARD $10,000  
**_THIS NOTICE TAKES PLACE OF ALL PREVIOUS REWARD NOTICES  
__CONTACT SHERIFF HAKKOTA, WATTERTON, TEXAS_

There was no picture. No one ever really saw The Blind Bandit. Or, if they did, they never said what he looked like... not that it mattered much at the snail's pace he was searching.

The Bounty Hunter plopped down on the ground, leaning against a thick cedar and beat his head against it a few times in frustration. He couldn't understand it... For weeks he had tracked and tracked and tracked, following all the clues, using every skill his father taught him, but he had come up short... Again... Right when it mattered the most...

His appaloosa snorted and nudged his head hard.

The man glared up at the horse for a moment. "What's the point, Swift?" He grunted sourly. "The trail's cold. We lost him."

Swift whinnied indignantly and snorted in his face.

"Eurg! Horse snot!" The Bounty Hunter grimaced and wiped his face with his bandana, slapping his hat back on his head. "Fine. You win, bud." He sighed in defeat and stood, stretching. He grabbed the saddle horn and was getting ready to swing himself up when-

"HELLO?"

The man froze in surprise, one foot in the stirrup, and whipped his head around in the direction of a distinctly female sounding voice. Sure enough, he saw a woman stumbling toward them.

She wore her pitch black hair in a messy bun, a rather distressed look on her pale-as-snow face, and was clothed in an expensive looking, silky green dress. Her small hands were out in front of her as she stumbled toward them.

"HELLO?" She called again, a bit more urgently. "IS SOMEONE OUT- _OOF!" _She fell backwards as she ran into a small sapling.

The Bounty Hunter kicked his foot out of the stirrup and immediately ran over to her. "Mam? Mam, are you all right?"

"Wha-" The woman sat up, a dazed look on her face. "Who... Who's there?"

The man frowned as he knelt by the woman. There was something... strange about her... He couldn't put his finger on just what it was, though...

"It's all right, Miss," he said softly, so as not to startle her. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

The woman blinked slowly and turned her face toward him. The man held back a gasp as two milky green eyes peered unseeingly from the round, porcelain face... She was blind...

"I'm not so sure if I can trust you," she said, warily leaning away from him. "Who... who are you?"

"Name's Sokka. Sokka Amadahy I'm a Bounty Hunter."

The woman cringed slightly at those words.

"No no no no," Sokka quickly waved his hands in front of him, forgetting she was blind. "I'm the good kind! I'd never hurt a lady! Plus my father is the Sheriff."

"Really?" The woman asked, suddenly sounding interested. "Which Sheriff?"

"Hakkota of Watterton. Er... _South_ Watterton..."

"Hmm... I think I've heard of him..." The woman tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before her face lit up in realization. "OH! I know! Isn't he the one who's been trying to catch the Blind Bandit? He send you out to catch him?"

The question was asked innocently enough, but Sokka could have SWORN he saw an amused, slightly mocking look cross her face.

"Sure is and sure did," he muttered, slightly bitter. "But I don't think that's gonna happen. Bandit's long gone by now. I don't think he'll be caught any time soon, if ever." He frowned at himself before shaking the dark cloud away. "Well, I guess that doesn't matter at the moment. Listen, Miss..." he blinked, suddenly aware that he didn't know her name. "Erm..."

"Toph," the woman smiled weakly. "Toph Bei Fong."

"R-right!" Hmm... Bei Fong... Sounded familiar... And Asian, which this woman looked. "Well, Miss Bei Fong, I would be happy to give you a ride back to town! There's room at my house for you if you need it. Or at the Inn, if you'd prefer."

"Thank you ever so much, Mr. Amadahy. I would be very grateful of you if you did... Only..." She bit her bottom lip. "If it's not too much trouble, could you just call me Toph?"

Sokka shrugged, again, forgetting that Toph couldn't see this gesture. "Sure thing, mam. And, please... Call me Sokka."

* * *

Sokka rode slowly, so as not to cause the lady sitting behind him any discomfort. "So..." He said in a slightly awkward way. "How did you come to be wanderin' blindly through the forest?" He felt Toph's arms, which were hooked around his waist, tense slightly, and he spoke quickly, attempting to do damage control. "I-I mean- That was just an expression... I didn't mean nothin' by it! Really!"

Toph sighed, her chin on his shoulder, breath tickling his ear. "No... No, it's all right... My horse got spooked, and she ran. My... _escorts_ couldn't keep up. I fell and started walking, and ran into you. Well... I ran into a tree, but it was close to you." She laughed a little at her joke.

"I see," he said with a light chuckle. Any lady who could joke about herself was OK in his book. Especially is said woman was blind... "If you don't mind my askin' again, who are your folks?"

"You mean you don't know them?" She snorted in a rather unladylike way. "They're only some of the richest people in America."

"R-right!" Sokka nodded swiftly, surprised at the sarcasm in her voice. "No, I know them. I just forgot for a second... Hehe... They own all them salt mines, right?"

"Right," Toph confirmed.

"So... Any siblings?"

"Nope."

"Ah..."

"What about you?" She wondered, directing the conversation to him.

"Me? Uh... Yeah. I got a sister. She's seventeen. Younger than me by a year or so."

"Hmm," Toph hummed. "I'm sixteen..."

They were quiet after that, both lost in their own thoughts.

Sokka pursed his lips as her arms tightened slightly around him, her soft, steady breath in his ear. It wasn't that he minded. Nooooo... Far from it, actually. It was just... There was something... not _right _with all of this. None of it really added up. Why would the richest people in America let their daughter be traveling through the forest on horseback with escorts that obviously couldn't keep up? Their _blind_ daughter, no less... Didn't they have enough money to buy a carriage? Or something more... _comfortable_ to travel in? And what was with all the unladylike behavior he had seen from her? Well... OK... She hadn't _really_ done anything unladylike... Still... Something was up. He could feel it in his gut. Or maybe he was just hungry...

Toph giggled a little as Sokka's stomach gurgled loudly. "Hungry, Cowboy?"

"A little," he admitted sheepishly.

"Well... we _could_ stop for dinner, you know."

"I-I don't know... If we stop now, we wont get to town until after nightfall..." He frowned, something telling him not to stop. "And... and it's dangerous."

"I'm not worried," Toph stated. "Not when I've got a brave cowboy like yourself looking after me."

Hmm... He was pretty brave, wasn't he? Yeah! And strong! More than capable of handling a few Outlaws or animals by himself!

"Oh, alright," he said with a nod. "I guess we can stop for a bit..."

* * *

Sokka stared down the barrel of his gun (HIS OWN GUN) wide eyed with shock. They had only stopped to make food for about ten minutes when these two burley men came out of the bushes on gigantic horses.

The one wearing the shirt with the sleeves that had been ripped off had jumped off of his horse and approached the Sokka and Toph in a threatening manner. Sokka had pulled his pistol and pointed it, attempting to cover the blind girl behind him, but said girl had leapt up and grabbed the gun out of his hand, knocking him down and pointing it at his head.

"Took you guys long enough," Toph muttered in annoyance.

"Sorry, Boss," The second man (the chunky, practically bald one with no shirt, missing teeth, and small, piggy eyes) said as he got down from his horse.

"Yes," the first man said. "The Boulder and Hippo came as fast as we could, but some of the Sheriff's men came after us."

"Wait... Wha?" Sokka muttered.

Toph grinned devilishly. "Oh, right. How rude of me! I forgot to introduce you guys! Sokka, these are my escorts. You remember the ones I was telling you about? Yeah? Well, that fat guy over there is Hippo, and the one with the muscles is The Boulder." She turned her head slightly to her "escorts," "Guys, this is Sokka. Son of Hakkota. You know, the Sheriff?"

The Boulder cracked his knuckles, "Want us to take care of him, Boss?"

Toph cocked her head, as if in consideration. "Naw. He's OK. Actually, he's been quite the gentleman." She nodded in his direction, flashing him a cute smile. "Take his stuff, though."

Sokka made an indignant noise in the back of his throat. "Wait! You can't just-"

"Oh, can't I?" Toph snarled, a dangerous gleam in her dead eyes. Her upper lip curled back from her teeth. "I think you'll find that I _can_, I _will_, and I _am_! And don't you think about moving a muscle there, Cowboy. I may be blind as a bat, but I've got the ears of an elephant!"

So Sokka waited there, glaring at the Outlaws rooting through his stuff. "All of it was a lie?" He managed to whisper.

Toph frowned slightly. "N-no... not _all_ of it... I really did fall off my horse, and these Knuckleheads couldn't keep up."

"Ok... Sure... But you're not really the daughter of the Bei Fongs, are you..."

The frown on her face deepened into a scowl. "Depends on how you define 'daughter.'"

"Done, Boss!" Hippo called, loading everything from Sokka's saddlebags into his own.

Toph turned and walked away, gun still in hand. "Did you Numskulls manage to find my horse?"

"The Boulder is the one who caught it, Boss," The Boulder stated, pounding his chest and leading a grey mare out of the trees.

Toph brightened as the Boulder helped her into her saddle. She patted her horse's neck and cooed softly, "There you are, Stone!" Obviously having forgiven her horse for tossing her.

The woman turned in her seat toward the Bounty Hunter. "Much obliged, Cowboy," she said with a slight grin and a tip of the head. "You can keep the horse and this," she tossed the gun in his general direction. "Also, if you ever need anything, the Blind Bandit is forever in your debt." She smirked and blew a kiss. "See ya, Slick!"

Sokka sat there for hours, completely and utterly stunned. The Blind Bandit was a girl!

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**

**Hey' ya'll! Good God, I'm SO SO SO SO sorry for the delay! It's been like two or three months now, hasn't it? :I Well craps... Please forgive me? I PROMISE to update ASAP next time!**

**Ok... So... yeah... Western theme here, which I really really really really REALLY wanted to try out! I just thought that the idea of Toph being an Outlaw and Sokka being the guy trying to catch her was funny... *shrug* I don't know...**

**Anywho... Did you love it? Like it? Hate it? PLEASE do tell in a review! I do so LOVE reading your feedback :)**

**EDIT: Also, Amadahy means water...**


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